<p>Does anyone else have a clueless counselor. I swear I know I hundred times more about the admissions process than her. It is very sad, especially since she cannot properly guide those who would be competitive at top schools to apply to them. We are basically on our own at my school. Anyone else have this situation at their school?</p>
<p>No. What I have is a situation in which three of my school's four counselors, including my counselor, quit mid-year and had to be replaced. Joy. I was just hounding one of them this afternoon about my signing up for an AP exam.</p>
<p>If you are like me who come from a ghetto and large public high school, chances are counselors are incompetent because they are not worried with top students. That is not their priority. They already know you are qualified enough to attend college. Their priority to get as much people to at least graduate.</p>
<p>If you come from a private prep school, chances are your counselor will more helpful because their exact purpose is to get you to the best college possible.</p>
<p>coming from a prep school, my problem lies in the fact that i am one of very few students without a private counselor, so the school appointed ones aren't used to having to do much..... and they also can get confused w/ deadlines and school names (read : my transcript was sent to bu when i applied to bc)</p>
<p>I think the solution would be more counselors so they are more focused on a smaller group of students</p>
<p>jkjkjk, etc ^ don't even talk to me.</p>
<p>I went through a hellish experience getting a transcript b/c of so many people in a guidance department. A TRANSCRIPT! it had to go through 3 levels-my counselor, head counselor, then ass't principal, and took over 3 hours to get A PHOTOCOPY for a summer program.</p>
<p>the sad thing is I go to a private school (over $8000 a year) where most of the money is sent to the guidance staff of OVER FIFTEEN people FULL TIME, and this is their down-time. </p>
<p>Not to mention, next year they only allow one EA OR ED or Rolling and only allow 6 apps total to their specific guidelines (one close to home, one that is Harvard level, a religious school)...I can't wait for next year's apps! (not!)</p>
<p>also, last year they told me that "No freshman or sophomores have ever taken an AP exam. Nobody studies on their own for AP exams!" yeah, sure. also, my guidance counselor ASKED MY MOM what a PSAT score is.</p>
<p>mine told us you could get into tufts with SAT scores in the low 600s per section</p>
<p>"Oh, I need to fill this out?"
Me: ...</p>
<p>My school isn't ghetto. But, you have to recite something at least five times until the counselors understand it. It must be easy helping kids fill out CC and State University forms...because it's SO difficult helping kids with private universities.</p>
<p>Anon-They are allowed to have rules about which schools you apply to??!? WHAT?! That is SO bogus! You should really complain! I have seriously never heard of a high school restricting the colleges students apply to!</p>
<p>Our counselors are okay, but if you look at a higher tier college than U of M, they give you weird looks.</p>
<p>So I told my admissions counselor that the only requirement I had for a college was it had to be in the city, so she came back with about 10 schools in the rural south...Needless to say, I did my own college search and did not listen to a word she said.</p>
<p>janelle, no joke, they restrict you and coerce you into schools you don't want, and they encourage all students to apply to about 7-10 colleges, making them super-competitive in my school when they really aren't. A school that isn't even in the top 200 and its sats are in the mid 1500's (/2400) is considered only for the top 10 or so students just because EVERYONE APPLIES TO THE SAME SCHOOLS! they're so lazy they can't even recommend different places!</p>
<p>two of my senior friends' parents actually had to call for weeks upon weeks for transcripts, only for the counselors they annoyed to "lose" their ED applications. it's horrible! my school has a very small number of people, too, so that's not an excuse either.</p>
<p>it's even worse because my local hs is rated in the USNews list under 50 or 60 or their great IB program (they also have a great counseling center, and really help with college searches and recommending places-people go to Harvard in droves, etc), but my parents sent me through parochial schools and I'm almost 4 years behind in math!</p>
<p>My counselor is really really great with getting everything together and out on time. He's a really nice guy and when I would give him something he'd have it out that day or the day after... It's mostly the same for everyone else he has too.</p>
<p>The biggest problem in our school is that they won't recommend any new schools or advise you on your choices AT ALL. Here are our conversations:</p>
<p>Counselor: So, just asking, what colleges are you applying to? (In September)
Me: Well, um, Swarthmore... And it's a little fuzzy.
C: Oh, I think you'd be a good fit there. (I wasn't sure if he meant stats-wise or personality-wise, because he doesn't know my personality and my stats, although good for our school, made Swarthmore a reach).</p>
<p>Later:
C: So why don't you apply to PSU? Or (insert other huge public PA university here- they're all anyone applies to).</p>
<p>This is how it goes at my school:</p>
<p>Top of the class? Go to PSU!<br>
Almost top? Go to Pitt!
Middle? Go to the community college, or (local kind of okay public here).
Lower than that, I'm not sure.</p>
<p>I'm more of a LAC person, so all of this bamboozles me.</p>
<p>I have a brand new counselor this year (I'm a junior). Since I really don't think she can give me any advice that I don't already follow, I'm relying on my own common sense, honest, hard work, and whatever tips and tricks my brother used to get into his college of choice.</p>
<p>I agree that it's rather frustrating when counselors won't recommend colleges. I guess they want to protect themselves from being held responsible if/when it all hits the fan and some kid's parents run screaming down to the guidance office demanding an explanation.</p>
<p>My counselor went to F*<em>%</em>& Wit state.</p>
<p>I want to bang her...</p>
<p>once upon a time i was wondering through student services and entered the office of the guidence counselor. it came as no shock to me wheni saw her stuffing her face with the new drak chocolate m&m's and her giant, super-sized coke. </p>
<p>"I need to register for the SAT," i said in the most polite voice i culd muster. </p>
<p>"well you're only a junior and typcially those tests aren't taken til the end of senior year. plus you don't have enough science to take the SAt," she siad through a mouthfull of chocolate.</p>
<p>"no i don't think you understood me," i replied. "i don't want to take the subject tests. I want to take the SAT reasoning. It's the ACT that has science on it." </p>
<p>'the ACT?" she replied as bits of flying chocolate managed to land on my nose. "That sounds like a very made up test if you ask for my opinion."</p>
<p>sadly, i did not ask for her opion. i was really lucky this year to have a different counselor do all my college stuff. i'm just so glad that i graduate in may and never have to deal with this again.</p>
<p>My counselor didn't know what a mid year report was.</p>
<p>She didn't know that private schools wanted first semester grades. She waited till they mailed her about it until she finally sent the damn thing in. Am I supposed to babysit my counselor and tell her to send it in? I'm pretty sure I gave her all the application instructions for all my schools, and it explicitly tells her to send those in as soon as the semester ends. I don't feel like hounding a grown woman and telling her to do her job competently. It's an absolute joke.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Our counselors are okay, but if you look at a higher tier college than U of M, they give you weird looks.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I hate it when that happens! A typical conversation would got something like this:</p>
<p>Student: Will you please fill out these forms so that I can apply to <em>top 20 college</em>?
Counselor: You want to go to <em>top 20 school</em>? Why don't you go to the nice state school?</p>
<p>My counselor is fine, but some of the counselors here are imbeciles. One of them said we had an Astrology class here.</p>
<p>My counselor isn't as bad as some of the ones above, but in terms of picking out schools, I was all on my own. </p>
<p>I'm very much into the liberal arts schools, with an artsy reputation and an intellectual feel. Literally all my guidance counselor could recommend for me was PSU and St. Joe's University...respectable schools, but not really on my radar. </p>
<p>Basically, I had to do all the research, be on top of everything I needed to send and then I'd do everything, put it in an envelope for my GC, and say "ok, I'm applying to _<strong><em>. The deadline is _</em></strong>. Thanks!" </p>
<p>One of my best friends goes to a private school and she was telling me about how she has TWO guidance counselors. They started meeting with her at the end of 10th grade to discuss college, and by junior year she had compiled a very nice list with her counselor. Her counselor told her what type of test prep to take, helped her pick out schools that matched her grades and her personality, and looked over essays with her. Whew! I can't even imagine that kind of treatment from a GC!</p>